Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister, Barbara Creecy, says government is committed to mitigating climate change and building communities' resilience towards its effects.
She was speaking at the 11th Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation Conference on Wednesday.
"South Africa is fully committed to contributing our best efforts to mitigating climate change and supporting the adaptation capabilities of communities and regions to build climate resilience. In this regard, we submitted an updated Nationally Determined Contribution in September 2021, which includes a significantly more ambitious mitigation target," she said.
The country faced the devastating reality and effects of global warming and climate change during the deadly floods in KwaZulu-Natal this year, which took the lives of at least 450 people.
Following the disaster, scientists at the World Weather Attribution said "the probability of an event such as the rainfall that resulted in this disaster has approximately doubled due to human-induced climate change".
Creecy warned that unless addressed, the threat that climate change poses is expected to only grow.
"Climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution threaten the environment on which we depend and weaken our economic and social systems [and] concern for the environmental crisis is no longer confined to multilateral institutions or the non-governmental sector.
"This year, the World Economic Forum's annual Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) identified climate action failure, extreme weather events, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as the top three of the top ten global risks by severity over the next ten years," she said.
Government, the Minister said, is actively seeking science-led solutions and interventions.
"In the context of these interlinked global risks, the role of scientific research in promoting evidence based decision making becomes more important than ever before. Equally important is the role of scientific research in finding innovative solutions to the existential challenges facing mankind.
"To ensure a science-based response to the climate crisis, which is centrally important to our just transition, we are funding a wide range of research, development and innovation programmes and interventions," she said.
These interventions include:
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The Global Change Research Plan (GCRP) and its associated programmes and interventions
The South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas (SARVA)
Multiple programmes on moving towards a circular economy
The development of the draft White Paper on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of South Africa's Biodiversity as well as South Africa's first Game Meat Strategy.
"The [draft white paper and Game Meat Strategy] provide a clear understanding of our intentions and aspirations as we promote the sustainable use of our natural heritage to enable and facilitate transformative socio-economic development, but also to ensure that we conserve biodiversity for current and future generations.
"In other words, the actions we take today must not only secure ecological sustainability into the future, but must also promote justifiable economic and social development to reduce poverty, inequality, and unemployment, especially for our rural communities," she said.
